


Reunion

by Huggle



Category: Kong: Skull Island (2017)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Hurt James Conrad, Kidnapped James Conrad, Kong rescues James Conrad, Protective Kong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 06:13:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24380023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Huggle/pseuds/Huggle
Summary: When James Conrad leads a second Monarch expedition to the island, he isn’t expecting Kong to remember him, not really.But then he isn’t expecting to be offered up as a sacrifice either.Fortunately for him, Kong doesn’t forget his friends so easily.
Relationships: James Conrad & Kong (Legendary | MonsterVerse)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 62





	Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> What can I say? I was watching the movie again tonight, and my head went places and the idea of James in Fay Wray’s predicament would not leave me alone. 
> 
> I just needed more interaction between these two, and a good dose of protective Kong to the rescue.

When Conrad finally comes to - groggy, head throbbing, stomach rolling unpleasantly and threatening to make him vomit - he barely has a moment to wonder how it is that Marlow failed to mention the Iwi weren’t the only civilisation on the island before people are crowding around him, before rough hands haul him to his feet.

No, these people are not at all like the Iwi. 

He fights, for what it’s worth; the injuries he already bears are proof enough his captors will ill use him further unless he can get away, but his strength is sapped. Whether that’s down to the solid punch the biggest of the men delivered, that snapped him around hard and put him on the ground, or the foul brew one of the old women forced into his mouth before pinching shut his nose to make sure he swallowed it, he isn’t sure and he isn’t sure it matters.

If the former, presuming he isn’t concussed, once the pain eases off he’ll be in a better position to resist; if the latter, it may take hours for the potion to burn out of his system, presuming it isn’t intentionally lethal, or toxic by accident because he’s allergic to the ingredients and goes into anaphylactic shock.

Either way, he’s helpless at present no matter how hard he tries to oppose them. When he digs in his heels they simply lift him off his feet and carry him over their heads, and then he is sick, turning his head so he doesn’t either throw up over himself or swallow and choke on it.

The natives don’t seem to mind being covered in the contents of his stomach; to be fair, all that’s really in there is the remnants of the potion and since they’re responsible for that, for all of this, really, it feels like poetic justice.

It might even help the drug wear off faster but, when they put Conrad down and he sees what lies ahead of him, he reasons it won’t be fast enough.

There’s a huge ravine ahead of him, lined with moss covered rocks and dotted with thick green ferns. He might think they mean to throw him off, except for the two thick wooden pillars set deep into the dirt path that tapers out just before the edge.

Or the vines twisted into ropes that are knotted around each of them.

Again, he struggles, but it’s as productive as before. All Conrad manages is to wind himself, and that just makes it easier for them to hold him in place while the vines are bound around his wrists.

Satisfied he’s secure, they retreat and Conrad twists around to see them running back the way they’ve come and quickly disappearing from sight.

That doesn’t bode well for him, not at all.

He tugs hard at the vines but, though they creak, they hold.

In the end, panting, worn out, all he can do is stand on shaking legs and wait.

He isn’t even sure which part of the island he’s on; while he’s reasonably sure the Monarch group he led here will at least try to find him, he doesn’t hold out much hope of that.

He’s their tracker. He’s the one supposed to keep them safe. 

Well, he managed that at least, by leading these people away from them so that he’s the only one beaten, drugged and now bound to two poles like some kind of human….

Oh.

It’s the only thing that makes sense after all, but the thing about human sacrifices is there has to be something to sacrifice the human to, and his mind helpfully reminds him that Kong was not the only huge animal they encountered here on the island during that first visit.

There were monsters aplenty (including the one they brought with them) and it might be that Kong didn’t kill all the skull crawlers.

It might be that these people worship them as the Iwi worship Kong.

It might be that he’s lying in a bed in the sickbay of the ship that brought them here, deep in a fever created dream because he was bitten by something or just came down with a sickness or perhaps he fell and hit his head and this is the result.

But then he hears a low bellow. 

Across the ravine, the tree tops are moving, swaying as if stirred by an imaginary wind.

Not a snake then, he thinks, relieved. For some reason...he doesn’t know why, but that was where his head went, to some nightmarish serpent slithering towards him.

And not a skull crawler, either, not from that sound, or from the movement the disturbance of the trees suggests.

In fact, if Conrad didn’t know better….

A moment later, Kong comes into view, and Conrad’s breath catches in his throat.

It feels like that very first time, seeing the massive king tower above them, above everything, and even across the ravine, Conrad can feel the earth tremble with each of the giant ape’s steps.

He stops across the gap and stares down at the helpless human with a puzzled look on his face.

For a moment, Conrad thinks Kong doesn’t remember him or that he’s not entirely sure what’s going on.

He feels an insane urge to laugh; all this effort, and Kong can’t quite figure it out.

But then the ape reaches across the ravine, fingers spread wide, and Conrad can’t help himself.

He flinches, because perhaps Kong doesn’t remember him. Or perhaps he does, but he remembers that Conrad - regardless of what he did later - came here with people who hurt Kong, who laid waste to a fair section of his island, who put the Iwi in danger.

Kong hesitates, upon seeing Conrad’s reaction, and then huffs annoyedly at him.

Conrad accepts that as the rebuke it so clearly is; this time, when Kong reaches for him, he holds still.

It takes barely a flick of those giant fingers to snap the vines holding him prisoner; however, since they were also holding him up, there’s nothing to stop Conrad losing his balance and tumbling forward.

The ground will hurt, but not so much as the fall over the edge of the rocks.

Neither happens; Kong’s huge hand stretches out and Conrad tumbles onto it.

It’s softer than the alternative, but it still takes the wind out of him, and he can feel the last of his consciousness slipping away from him.

The last thing he remembers is a furious roar; it’s perhaps delirium or that no mans land between being awake and not, but it sounds to him like a warning, and a claiming all in the one.

++

Conrad finds waking up the second time entirely less traumatic than the first. For one thing, he doesn’t hurt quite as bad as before.

For another, no one puts their hands on him and hauls him to his feet and drags him away.

Instead, he feels warm, and….protected, and he hears a soft rumble from above him.

When he opens his eyes, two huge brown ones are staring back down at him, and a very large finger strokes gently down his chest.

Conrad smiles. “Your timing is excellent.”

He reaches up to pat Kong’s hand, and the rumble turns fond, amused.

“And, yes, thank you,” Conrad says.

He feels somewhat ashamed to think that Kong might have forgotten him - though to be fair, he is a king, a god - when it’s clear he has not.

Conrad lies there, and wonders if Kong watched him arriving with the Monarch expedition, and then tracked him here, somehow knowing he was in trouble, and then coming to his rescue.

Perhaps repaying a debt though, as far as Conrad is concerned, he was repaying one when he helped Kong during that first fateful visit to this island.

Or perhaps he was simply taking care of a friend.

Either way, Conrad lets sleep - natural, this time - take hold of him, sure in the knowledge that he’s being watched over, guarded by someone whom no one will dare to challenge.


End file.
